Whereas the Ninth Amendment provides that the enumeration of certain rights in the Constitution does not deny or disparage other unenumerated rights retained by the people, the Tenth Amendment clearly reserves to the states those powers that the Constitution neither delegates to the federal government nor prohibits to the states. The Tenth Amendment does not impose any specific limitations on the authority of the federal government; though there had been an attempt to do so, Congress defeated a motion to modify the word delegated with expressly in the amendment. It thus does not grant states additional powers, nor does it alter the relationship that exists between the federal government and the states. It merely indicates that the states may establish and maintain their own laws and policies so long as they do not conflict with the authority of the federal government.
The Petition of Right of 1628 was an English document that helped promote the civil rights of the subjects of King Charles I. Learn how the actions of this king led the people to stand up for and insist upon their civil rights in a manner that is still having influence today.
